Retail Distribution Review (RDR)

The FSA dropped a bomb shell in June 2007 by publishing its concerns about the clarity of adviser status and services, remuneration and professional standards. After an interim report and vast amounts of discussions, the FSA published its Feedback Statement on the 25th November 2008 and CP09/18 in June 2009. Yet more further bombshells!

The RDR raises some fundamental questions for most firms of advisers:

Some key questions:

	How will the business adapt as the RDR goes forward?
	In practice, how will independent advice differ from restricted advice?
	What is the best way of meeting the level four exam requirement?
	How do we give our advisers the ability and confidence to position a fee-based model with potential clients?
	What do higher levels of professional skills actually look like?

If you would like to consider some of the answers, why not talk to us?

Read article on professional standards

Treating Customers Fairly

It won't have escaped your attention that the FSA places great emphasis on Treating Customers Fairly or TCF.

This FSA initiative will run and run. The March 2007 deadline has come and gone. The bad news is that only 41% of small firms met this deadline and the figure was much lower for small mortgage firms.

In light of this, the FSA set two further deadlines for 2008. By the end of December 2008, firms must be able to demonstrate they are consistently treating customers fairly. For many this still poses a challenge.

Some key questions:

	What does TCF actually mean in practice?
	What are other firms doing? In other words, what does best practice look like?
	What are the priority steps to take in planning and implementing TCF?
	How have you integrated TCF into the way you run your business?
	How is TCF communicated to all of your staff and acted upon?

If you want some answers, why not talk to us? If you want to self-audit, why not download our audit tool and kick-start TCF in your business today?

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